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A large majority of Europeans are now online and keen to engage, according to a new digital index published by the European Commission, but business has been slow to respond to the opportunity this represents. The Commission is particularly concerned that only 15% of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) sell online, and fewer than half of those trade digitally across international borders.

The Digital Economy and Society Index, released on February 24, is a composite of 33 indicators that the Commission considers significant for Europe’s digital performance. These have been weighted in five broad categories to give national rankings. Connectivity and internet skills are assigned the greatest importance, followed by the spread of digital technologies in business. Public activities online and the spread of digital public services receive less weight.

The data underpinning this 2015 index mainly come from 2014, while a comparative index for 2014 draws on previous rounds of EU surveys, where available.

Overall the Commission concludes that Europe is progressing towards a digital economy and society, but that developments continue to be uneven. Ahead of the field is a high-performing cluster of nations, comprising Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. They are leaders in Europe, and worldwide, it says.

This is followed by 13 medium performing nations, including big economies such as Germany, Spain, France and the UK. These are doing well in certain areas, but need to progress in others. Italy joins the 10 remaining nations in the low performing group. Only Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are below it in the ranking.

Europe is most fragmented when it comes to digital public services, and most united in the way people use the internet. “Citizens do have similar online attitudes once they have the skills to exploit the benefits of digital technologies,” the Commission observes.

Comparing the indexes for 2014 and 2015, connectivity has seen the greatest progress, thanks to significant take-up of mobile broadband and fast broadband. Basic digital skills have also improved, but have a long way to go before Europeans can take full advantage of the digital economy, the Commission says.

Significant results for the online business climate include the finding that 63% of internet users bought goods or services online in the previous year, up on 61% in the 2014 index. Activity is greatest in the UK, at 85%, followed by Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

While this is encouraging, the Commission is concerned that only 18% of internet users shop internationally online. This indicator is not part of the index, but is picked up in some country analyses.

When it comes to companies doing business online, the index looks at three indicators involving SMEs. This means companies with 10-249 employees, excluding the financial services sector. From this point of view the top nation for e-commerce is the Czech Republic, followed by Ireland and Denmark.

Some 15% of SMEs sell goods or services online, up from 14% in the 2014 index. The busiest nation is the Czech Republic at 26%, closely followed by Denmark and Croatia. Bottom of the table is Italy with just 5% of SMEs selling online. No nation seems likely to reach the EU target of 33% by 2015.

While many nations are taken to task for their for performance in this area, the Commission makes a point of telling Austria and Finland they should be doing better, given how much their citizens have embraced the internet.

Only 6.5% of SMEs are selling online cross borders, a static figure because new data is not available. Luxemburg tops the table with 15%, followed by Malta, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Ireland. Bottom of the table is Bulgaria with 2%, followed by Poland and Romania.

Meanwhile 8.8% of SME turnover came from e-commerce, up from 8.3% in the 2014 index. Ireland dominates, with 37%, followed by the Czech Republic with 18%, then Denmark, Sweden and Estonia.